After 20 years of being sick i finally have an answer! I went to a new specialist and he was an excellent doctor! He looked at my blood tests, and then at an ultra sound i had done awhile ago- and he said there is no doubt that i have Hashimoto's. It took alot of prayer , and research, and help from all of you to finally get it done! Thank you all so much for all the great advice! He even went one step further and agreed that i have a high probability of being diagnosed with Lupus eventually as well. All my answers are finally here. It was a long difficult road to be on, but i finally feel as though things are looking up. Thanks again for all the great advice! Ritz

Thanks to both of you! The doc told me that this can run in families, and two of my four grown children are showing some syptoms as well. I'm so glad for their sakes that they won't have to wait so long to be taken seriously. We have to know what's wrong with our bodies for the sake of our kids! Ritz

Happy for you, Ritz! My mom was hypoT, and my daughter is. Neither was tested for Hashi's; they were treated without knowing the cause of their hypoT... and of course, I was diagnosed Hashi's.
I wish my son would get tested, but that's like wishing for snowballs in August.

Hi, I'm Tammy and a newbie, and I wanted to tell you that I am very happy for you. Sorry that you have Hashi's but being diagnosed is such a relief when you have a name for that something that was going wrong in your body! At least that is how I felt!

I was tested for several years because I had all the symptoms, but always came up borderline until I developed a goiter with nodules. I knew that there was "something" going on but didn't know what it was. I was so relieved when I just had the name for it! But I was diagnosed hypo, and just this last week six years later, I know now that I have Hashi's.

You know the odd thing though? NO ONE in my family on both my Mother's and father's side has had any thyroid disease. NO ONE! I am the first. And I hope that I am the last one. I wouldn't wish this stuff on anyone.

I'm glad for you that you now know the problem. That's the hardest part of the job. Now you can work on fixing it!

So happy for you after all these years that you can now give your symptoms a "real name"!! I read alot of your posts and I share in understanding alot of what you're feeling with hashi's and ... as I, too, was dx'd with "mild lupus" from way back in the late 80's. My last report for ANA showed the same as yours, the high speckled 640. Anyway, enough about me. I hope you the best in starting your meds, bye for now, Marty

Thanks to all of you for the encouragement!
Midwest- i too think my daughter might have it- and one of my sons. My daughter has no insurance(like me), and my son is just plain too stubborn to keep going to doctors! But that "snowballs in August thing"- where i come from (way up in upper michigan) that's not always to unusual to think about! It wouldn't suprise me here!!! thanks again!

Tammy- i too, had a goiter with nodules. Two different doctors found it in me, but never knew enough to pursue Hashi's. As a matter of fact, when I mentioned the possibility of "thyroiditis" they never heard of it! Maybe that's why no one in your family ever had it- maybe they did, but no one knew enough to check? Just a thought! Thanks for your response!

Marty- Sorry you are sick too, but i appreciate hearing from someone who has a similar story. When you say "mild Lupus", how did they come to that conclusion? Did they do the DNA test on you, or was it other factors that led to that diagnosis? My last rhuemy was not very helpful. I'm hoping to go to a new one someday after i get my bills settled with the rest of the doctors. Thanks again! Ritz

Yep, my dr. back then called it "mild lupus" since the ANA showed positive and also with add'l testing that he did ... unfortunately I have no idea about any of the tests he had done, at that time in my life I just listened to my dr. and said "oh okay" and believed what he said and walked out the door. (Time certainly has changed about what we perceive from drs today, that's for sure, lol).

What I do remember him saying is that I had met the criteria of 7 out of 8 of the symptoms? to be dx'd with lupus in which I met. I had followed up with a rheumy one time and remember him too saying "mild lupus" ... maybe because of the testing results or because I wasn't too symptomatic at the time, not sure. I remember him too wanting me to take some kind of med but I never did and not sure what kind it was.

In time after all my testing with the endo and neurologist I'll probably be going to see a rheumy again, been many years. It's soooo exhausting seeing all these drs. wow!!